


Retrograde

by redboard



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Batman quits the league au lol, M/M, second meetings, the justice league is full of dumdums
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 23:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18062630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redboard/pseuds/redboard
Summary: Kon-El comes face to face with someone he hadnt seen since his Young Justice days. This leads him to find out the truth about the days following Batmans resignation, and his unchanged feelings towards an old teammate.





	Retrograde

Kon was flying overhead the city, really taking it in. It wasn’t long ago since he’d returned, but he mostly spent his days at the Kent farm nowadays. However he still missed the way Metropolis lit up underneath him as he flew aimlessly, the wind whipping his hair, the lights blinking on like a mirror of the night sky above him.

He’d missed this a lot.

Krypto barked ahead of him, flipping and turning happily, as if he could read his thoughts and agreed wholeheartedly. It had been though to get used to the responsibility of taking care of a superdog, but Krypto always managed to keep his spirits up.

“Don’t go to far, boy!” He said, as Krypto rushed after some bird or maybe a bat. He didn’t need to shout, surely his superhearing could pick it up easy.

Eventually it was time to turn in, since it was a school night and he had kind of, sort of, sneaked out. Though Ma Kent would probably find out anyways, it was impossible to keep anything from that lady.

“Here boy!” He called for Krypto, whistling. “Let’s go back. Krypto?” He flew closer to the dog that had gone as still as one could while floating in midair. His fangs were bared and he seemed to be emitting a low growl. “What’s wrong, boy?”

Kon looked in the general direction of whatever caught Kryptos attention, relying on his advanced vision to really survey the area. It was almost imperceptible, but there was someone perching in front of a billboard. He’d have thought nothing of it had it not been for the snap of a cape behind them, as a particularly strong gust of wind hit the material.

He gestured Krypto to be quiet, not exactly certain the dog was able to comprehend it, but without bothering to check he started to float down silently behind the stranger, if it was some new sort of criminal he wanted to stop them before anyone got hurt.

Upon closer inspection he really didn’t recognize the costume, the thought of a new criminal made him immediately tired, he couldn’t even guess what their gimmick was. The costume was almost nondescript, as it meshed much too well with the shadows cast by the billboard. He realized he couldn’t even use his x-ray vision to try figure out who it is, which is never a good sign. The mask is  probably lead lined, which translates to “this is someone who knows Kryptonian weaknesses.”

The person was holding a set of binoculars and was unmoving as he watched something across the street. Kon looked as well, but all he saw were a bunch of rather run down apartment buildings. He waited to see if the costume guy made a move but eventually got tired of it and decided to be direct, subtlety and patience had never been his strongest suit.

“Big Doctor Mid-Nite fan? This is more of a Superman area though, how rare.” he said, crossing his arms as he looked over the costume.

They lower the binoculars and turn around without flinching at the sudden intrusion, which is new. “I was wondering how long you were going to be creeping on me like that before butting in.”

“Says the guy holding the binoculars.” Kon mumbles. He looks at the symbol in the guys chest, seems like some sort of bird. “Listen here Birdman, I don’t know who you are but we don’t want no trouble so if you could kindly move along that’d be super.”

“I’m good here, thanks for the offer though, Superboy.” The Birdman turns back around and starts looking through the binoculars again. Kon didn’t think he’d be recognized like that, given that he’d been gone for more than a few years and had been laying low since he’d come back, but he realized he was wearing his black Hope shirt and cursed himself for being that dumb.

“You got a permit to wield these?” He points at the binoculars.

“Yeah, from the I Do What I Want association. Now if you could please,” he dismissed Kon with a wave of his hand.

“I’m not going anywhere, you’re suspicious. You should know how this looks. I’m not going anywhere.”

Birdman sighed then got to his feet, “Suit yourself then,” he reached for one of his belt pouches and pulled out a gun looking contraption, but before he could do anything with it Krypto sailed in out of nowhere and pounced on top of him, biting the arm holding the gun. There was a snap and something shot out of the contraption, but the sound was enough to startle Kon into action and zapped Birmans hand, making him drop it.

Birdman was still wrestling with Krypto for a few moments before the dog dropped unconscious Kon shouted after him and picked Bird guy from his harness and slammed him against the billboard. Kon’s eyes were glowing red “What did you do?!” He snarled.

“Relax he’s just asleep. Control your animal next time.” The guy said unimpressed. Kon slammed him against the billboard again.

“No more funny business, I’m done playing around! Who are you and what’s your business here?” He slammed him once more, making the metal creak under the weight “I won’t ask twice!”

They stared into each other eyes—or at least Kon stared into a featureless cowl with white lenses— before the guys shoulders dropped a fraction and he raised his arms in surrender. Kon dropped his hold but didn’t back down, staying in the guys personal space. He didn’t care if he was uncomfortable, he’d hurt Krypto.

The guy reached up and held the edges of his cowl and pushed it back. Immediately, shoulder length hair fell loose, pointed wildly in all directions. It was black as black can be, it seemed to shimmer blue like the feathers of a raven.

Underneath the cowl was a domino mask still, so Kon still couldn’t see into his eyes but his brain had stopped short because he felt like he recognized this person. It wasn’t until he spoke again when his suspicions were confirmed.

“My code name is Red Robin, I’m looking for the Batman.”

 

 

———

 

All the Leaguers had been gathered together in the old base, praising the three of them for stepping up to the task when they were most needed. Impulse seemed, as Impulsive would, ecstatic. And Superboy himself, well, his chest was puffing up with pride. Even more so when Superman himself took him aside and put a hand on his shoulder, telling him he’d done a good job. He could burst like a supernova right that second.

The Flash had proposed to throw a party and relax and everyone had agreed. Between him and Impulse they gathered all sorts of food and refreshments for everyone. Superboy was about to dig in to some pineapple pizza when he noticed someone was missing. Two someone’s in fact.

He looked around and finally spotted Batman and Robin off to a corner. They seemed to be leaving. He floated closer to them, still keeping his distance, as the Batman was sort of intimidating, not that he’d ever admit it. “You’re not coming Rob?”

Impulse appeared next to Superboy out of nowhere and he pouted, his face shiny with sugar “Aw what? You’re leaving already?”

Robin looked from them to Batman then back “Um, yeah, we have to go. It was fun working with you guys.” He half raised a hand as if to wave but then decided against it, instead nodding “Then, see you.”

Superboy didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want Robin to go. The guy was bossy, snarky and actually kind of had a nasty personality, but so did Superboy. And they hit it off really well since the first time they teamed up, despite their rocky start. He didn’t know when he’d be able to see him again like this. Superboy knew he liked Robin, he always knew what he wanted, be it girls or boys, it didn’t matter. His feelings weren’t complex or deep, they were actually often superficial, but he didn’t _do_ complicated. It’s who he is. Which was all sorts of ironic given the current situation.

Robin was complicated, and liking Robin was bound to be complicated too, but Superboy didn’t want to dwell on it too much.

Before he could say anything though, Batman pulled Robin aside and talked to him quietly. Superboy looked back at Superman and wished he had his superhearing to hear what they were saying, but judging by Superman’s smirk, it was bound to be a good thing.

“You’re staying after all?!” Said Impulse, bouncing up and down next to Superboy. He turned back to see robin nod, a bright, genuine smile playing on his face “Yippee!!” Cheered Impulse and Superboy dropped his cool demeanor long enough to cheer alongside him as they tackled Robin for a hug.

 

———

 

“Tim?” Kon blinked, like he couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked… he was different—good different or bad different, he couldn’t tell— but it was unmistakable, this was Tim. “Robin? It’s you?”

“It’s Red Robin now.”

“Right.” Kon felt like he couldn’t fit in himself, the flurry of emotions flowing through him. He ran a hand through his hair “I—I can’t believe it’s really you!”

“I can’t believe it’s really you, either.” He said, but the tone of his voice was level.

“And you’re out of Gotham too. I thought… oh!” Kon gasped, as he remembered poor Krypto. Seeing as Red Robin wasn’t a real threat he floated towards his dog to check he really wasn’t injured. “He really is down for the count.”

“Mmm. Nerve strike. Works on super dogs just like it does on regular dogs.”

“Yeah…” he stroked the white fur and stopped to look up at Tim. “What do you mean looking for Batman, isn’t he—“

“He’s alive.” Tim said, his shoulders squared, as if expecting a rebuttal.

“Okay.”

“You believe me?” He sounded genuinely confused “just like that?”

“I do.” And Kon found that he really did believe him. Even after all this time apart, he believed him. He figured he owed him this much trust after all.

Tim’s shoulder relaxed a fraction before he perked up again, one hand reaching up to an imperceptible earpiece. After a few seconds he walked towards Kon and kneeled down, picking up his contraption, which turned out to be his grappling gun. He reassembled it and stood up, pointing it to a nearby rooftop.

“Wait!” Called out Kon before he could zip away. He hoisted Krypto up in his arms and said “Let’s talk again, sometime.”

Tim seemed to consider this for a polite amount of time before saying “Sorry, I’m not in my best mindset these days, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“You can come to me then. I’d… I’d like to see you again.”

Tim didn’t respond to this and soon enough he was swinging away.

 

———

 

Superboy lay awake in his sleeping bag, his head propped up on his arm as he looked up to the tent over them. He could hear his friends even breathing as they lay next to him, punctuated at times by Bart giggling in his sleep.

He turned his head and looked at Bart’s messy mop of hair and his peaceful sleeping face. He was always so high strung all the time, seeing him this peaceful was reassuring. He never knew what really went through his friends mind but at least he was able to sleep without problems. He reached out with his TTK and covered his sprawling body with a blanket. Bart smiles as if thankful for the gesture.

Superboy turned to the other side and came face to face with Robin. Like Bart, his breathing was even and his face was relaxed, though his face was still covered with the domino mask. The blank, white lenses stared back at Superboy. He thought maybe he could try removing it now. But decided against it, not only was it possible that Robin had his a third mask underneath, but they were all sleeping together, it was their most vulnerable time. This was a test of trust from Robin, even if he never said as much.

Still the temptation was strong. He reached over his hand and let it hover over the edge of the mask. He stayed like that for a few moments, merely contemplating what he’d find if he did take it off. But eventually he dropped his hand on his chest and turned back towards the tent.

“I didn’t think you’d have this much willpower, you never cease to amaze.” Robin said, his voice barely a whisper. Superboy flinched so violently he almost shoot out of his own skin.

“Damn! You’re going to give me a heart attack!” He hissed. Robin just grinned unapologetically. “You were awake this whole time?”

“This is earlier than my usual, um, bedtime.”

Right. Bats.

They stayed in silence for a few more moments, listening to their friend dreaming. Superboy turned towards Robin and found he still hadn’t moved “We’re you looking at me this whole time?”

“Are you shy?” Superboy made a face “No, my eyes were closed, just like now.” He smiled “Cant sleep?”

Superboy hummed. “Say,” he started, but stopped as Bart grunted in displeasure.

“Shh. You’ll wake him up.” Robin said, before scooting closer to Superboy. He turned to look at him, which was a mistake because now they were _really_ close. So close in fact he could see a hint of Robin’s actual eyes behind the thick white lenses. “You were saying?” He said, and Superboy shivered at the way his voice reached him.

“S-So—“ he cleared his voice and looked away “That stuff you were saying earlier. Did you mean it?”

“What stuff?” Robin said, and paused for a moment. “Ah, about if I would ever stop being Robin?”

“Yeah.”

It was a topic that troubled Superboy. All his friends had secret identities, had lives after superheroing was over. Superboy was just Superboy. Uncomplicated, constant, just how he liked it. But it didn’t mean he didn’t wonder if he’d just be Superboy forever. If he’d ever grow tired or if he’d ever be more than… just Superboy.

“I…” Robin hesitates. “I kind of meant it.”

Superboy turned back towards him to persuade him to continue.

“I suppose, that’s Robin’s answer.”

“I don’t get it.”

Robin sighed and tilted his head away towards the floor. “I mean, that’s what Robin is. So long as someone needs to be saved, Robin will be there for them. Batman—He needs salvation more than anyone.” He paused “So long as Batman exists he needs a reminder that there is a tomorrow, that the fight has meaning even if it never ends, that’s Robin. But… it doesn’t have to be me.”

“What… so what are you saying?”

Robin turned back towards him and smiled sadly “I didn’t plan to be Robin for long, i still don’t. Someday someone else will be Robin and I’ll just be—“

“You can’t!” Superboy hissed, perhaps too loudly. His hand shooting out to hold Robin’s shoulder “You can’t” he repeated, softer this time. “You’re—-You’re our Robin too, and we need _you_.”

“You don’t know who I am, you only know Robin, it wouldn’t make a difference who—“

“It would. To me, it would.” He said, allowing his expression to show how much he meant it. Robin looked back at him with his mouth parted slightly in surprise. His cheeks were flushed and, as his words caught up to him, so did Superboys.

Bart suddenly shot up and they both flinched apart, watching their friend, feeling busted for some reason. But Bart merely stretched and fell back down asleep.

Superboy sighed in relief, but as he looked back towards Robin he noticed he’d turned his back to Superboy, ending their conversation. He watched the back of his head for a while longer, somehow, he could hear both of their hearts beating, he listened until he eventually fell asleep.

 

———

 

Kon flew all the way to Kent farm, holding onto Krypto. He’d wrapped him up in his cape to protect him from the cold, not that he was sure it would affect him in any way.

His mind was a mess, he didn’t know what to think of tonight. He was glad to know Tim was still a vigilante, though he didn’t understand the name change. And he’d been surprised to see him in Metropolis of all places. Looking for Batman.

He wondered for a second if he should tell anyone about this, but dismissed the thought. That’s just complicate everything. Besides, he didn’t know much himself. Maybe Tim would actually come to him to talk.

He reached the farm and laid Krypto in front of his little dog house before floating back to his room. He quickly undressed and plopped onto the mattress. Kon covered his eyes with his arm and sighed “What are you doing?”

At that moment he trust Robin, the moment he let him leave without more questions, he’d trusted him. But he wasn’t even sure he should have. What was right and what was wrong, it was always complicated with the bats.

Tim had always been complicated, he thought. And Kons feelings about him had always been complicated too. Back then he always rubbed him wrong. Whenever he acted superior even subconsciously. When everyone had looked to him as a leader, while Kon had just been a brute who liked to break things.

But there was always the moment where envy turned into wanting. Whenever Kon showed off and made everyone look at him, it was always Tim’s attention he’d wanted most. To show what he was made off. Prove himself to him, in a way.

He knew he liked Tim from the start. But it was a complicated dynamic. Kon didn’t do complicated back then. Just as he’d wanted to punch his smug face one moment, he’d want to kiss him silly another.

Kon rolled to his side and sighed again. He wondered if those complicated feelings were what clouded his judgment.

Tim had looked good. He’d grown a bit since the last time they’d seen eachother all those years ago. His body was slim yet muscular like a gymnast, and his voice was still that soft murmur, now with a slight rumble underneath it.

Kon wasn’t shocked to find he still wanted him, in that complicated way.

The next morning he was almost unable to float in a straight line, floating towards the counter in the kitchen, where Ma Kent was preparing breakfast.

“What have I told you about long nights, you silly boy.” She said without turning “You always end up tired like this.” She placed a plate of eggs and bacon in front of Kon and looked at him while he ate slowly. “What is it? Out with it, I know something's troubling you.” She said, perceptive as always.

“Ma…” Kon started without looking up from his plate “I meet an old friend last night.”

“Oh? That’s good though isn’t it?”

“But, it’s… we didn’t leave on the best of notes.” He swallowed. “We had a fight. Long ago. I realized he really wasn't at fault, because of his circumstances. I thought I’d be able to apologize but I lost my chance.”

“And this friend of yours, was he still mad about this fight?”

“I don’t know…” he sighed, rubbing his face with his hands in exasperation. “I don’t know.”

Ma placed a hand on his shoulder and Kon looked up at her. Her smile was kind when she said “Maybe, this meeting means you get a second chance to get things right.”

“But, now I don’t even know where we stand. The things he—they did. I’m not sure if it’s up to me to apologize.”

This seemed to trouble Ma. She must have noticed this wasn’t a regular problem. She brought her hand to her mouth and contemplated before smiling. “You’re a good boy Kon, and you have good things in your heart. You’ll know to do what’s right.”

Kon smiled though he was still troubled. Even more so since his heart beat faster whenever he thought about him. Clearly it was biased.

 

———

 

One by one, every member of Young Justice slowly came out of the ship they’d used to return back home. Somehow they’d escaped with their lives in one piece, though the same couldn’t be said about Lil’ Lobo.

They all gathered in the entrance of the Mansion that served as headquarters and lingered awkwardly. Kon was standing arms crossed looking at Robin, and Robin was turned away from them, looking at the Mansion. The other members looked back and forth between them.

This issue had been brewing for a long time and it had reached boiling point during their mission out of planet. The revelations about Batman had shocked the entire hero community and it was no doubt that a meeting not unlike this one was also happening in the Watchtower.

Robin—Tim, they now knew, his name is Tim—sighed and turned back to face them, his expression was as impassive as ever. “Well? What do you want me to say?”

Kon couldn’t believe his guts “How about an explanation for starters? Did you know? Did you know what _your_ mentor was up to?” Kon said, barely containing his anger.

“I suspected as much, but I didn’t know for sure. I don’t condone it, but I won’t apologize for him. He knows what he’s doing.”

“Tim… he was gathering information on us. On our mentors.” Said Cassie, rubbing her arm bands awkwardly “Do you understand what that means?”

“You can’t be trusted.”

“I didn’t— I’m not the one that spied on you, besides I didn’t know for sure—.”

“Yah’ but would ya have told us if ya knew?” Said Slobo, picking at his teeth with his nails. When he noticed people looking at him he added “Not that I give a shit about any of this, mind.”

“I guess… I guess I wouldn’t have… you’re right.”

“It’s not like you trust us either.” Said Kon, trying to get back to the point. “You couldn’t even tell us your name. We had to find out from someone else. What a trustworthy leader you make.”

“It wasn’t my secret to share. I made an oath. I gave him my word. I thought you understood.” He looked away, “it’s not that I didn’t trust you, it’s that… I don’t trust myself.”

This gave Kon a pause, somehow all the anger he’d been holding vanished almost at once. Robin has a name now and he stopped looking larger than life. He was just a boy like everyone else, or maybe unlike everyone else, the one with the most to lose.

Robin continued “You’re right though, I make a lousy leader. You deserve better than that.” He looked from face to face and said “I quit.”

It all fell apart quickly after.

 

———

 

Kon was making his way to Titans Tower. It had been almost a week since he saw Tim and he still couldn’t decide what to do about it. Still he was glad for the weekend to provide distraction.

He touched down in the courtyard were the founders statue was erected. His eyes lingered a few moments on Nightwing’s, standing in the middle next to his teammates. He wondered what he thought about all this, though, given he hadn’t been sighted for years it was clear where he stood.

He stepped in through the front door for the first time in ages, since he always came in through the roof entrance.

The first floor was a museum of sorts, filled with trinkets and old photos as well as costumes of heroes lost in the fight. There was a bust of him in a pedestal, made back when he died. Cassie and Bart had written kind words which were now engraved in a marble plate.

He continued until he found an old photo, from their Young Justice days. It was cut out of a magazine article and it featured all of them debuting in their reality show. They were all there, including one Mister Sarcastic, draped in the most embarrassing duds Kon ever saw.

It was one of the rare moments when Tim allowed his picture to be taken. He was looking smug and uncomfortable at the same time. Kon snorted at the sight.

“I can’t believe we did that either.” Said Cassie begins him. Kon turned towards her as she approached. “How rare to see you down here.”

“Yeah, just,” He said, shrugging.

“Yeah, me too.” She ran a finger over the frame of the photo. “We had fun back then didn’t we?” She smiled.

“Yeah.” Kon said, looking at her friend. He thought maybe he could tell her. They were best friends, but he didn’t know how to breach the subject. Finally he said “Have you seen Cissie? Yknow, after?”

Cassie blinked at him then grinned “What’s this? Trying to rehash some old crush?” She nudged his side playfully.

“No, what? No, of course not.” He denied, perhaps too forcefully “I just wondered.”

“A few times. Yknow, in passing. She became an Olympic medalist you know?”

He didn’t know actually. He didn’t know much about the years he missed. He was glad to find his friends were still the same, deep down.

“Why? Are you feeling nostalgic?”

“Just curious.” He shrugged, as he walked towards the elevator, walking past many photographs. Cassie walked beside him, looking at the cases. “There’s just a lot of photos of people in this room and I don’t know where they are anymore.”

“I get it.” She said as they waited for the elevator. “Cissie was…” she started “She was my best friend you know? Even though I was always jealous of her.”

“Of Cissie?” He asked incredulously.

Cassie laughed “Yeah! She was always so mature and knew what she wanted to do with her life. I guess in a way I looked up to that. So when she decided to quit, I had a hard time accepting it. But when I did we ended up drifting apart” she smiled sadly “I wanted, more than anything, to respect her decision. But I thought being around her would make it harder for her to do what she’d set out to do. I didn’t think there was a way for us to keep being friends like that, you know?”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Cassie walked in first and Kon blinked after her before following. He’d had no idea she felt that way.

“Are you saying, you could have stayed friends? Despite not fighting together anymore?”

She hummed thoughtfully, watching the numbers change. “I’m not saying we could have but… we should have tried.” She smiled at him. Kon lifted one arm and Cassie hugged his side and he hugged her back.

 

———

 

Kon was still wondering what to say to Robin the next time they saw eachother. He’d been too harsh about the trust thing and wanted to apologize but he’d never done it before. It had been almost two weeks since then.

He was lying on the sofa thinking about this when Red Tornado appeared out of nowhere, looking down at him.

“You’re required in the communications room.”

“We have one of those?” He jokes as he follows him to the back room. Everyone else was already there, well everyone else who had decided to come back after their fight that day. He was gladly surprised to see Cassie and Bart among the group.

“Hey, what’s going on?” He said, floating towards them.

“Dunno.” Shrugged Bart where he was straddling a chair, rolling it side to side listlessly.

“Some big announcement probably.”

The tv turned on and Superman and Wonder Woman appeared before them. Superman started off by saying “I know this is sudden but we need to make an announcement to the entire hero community.”

“I know some of you already know about the breach in trust between the League and the Batman and his subsequent resignation.” Wonder Woman took over. “Many attempts have been made to reach the Batman to reach a resolution about this issue, however we were met with radio silence.”

“Finally, we decided to take a small trip to Gotham. We… were met with resistance. Gotham has been previously closed from metahuman heroes, so we sent Green Arrow in our stead, he…”

“He’s currently being taken care of by our medic team” there was a gasp through the room, it wasn’t hard to understand what this meant “He was sent back to us with a clear message.”

“Gotham City is currently in lockdown. That is to say no capes come in or out. This is an arrangement enforced unofficially by all the members of the Bats, government officials have no idea about this as civilians are unaffected.”

“We merely wish to warn all of you not to approach Gotham City until a resolution to this problem is met. Take alternate flight routes if necessary. If you see a Bat report it to the either of us, do not engage under _any_ circumstances. We will solve this. That is all.”

The screen went black and the room was silent.

 

——-

 

Still four years later, not a single Bat was ever sighted outside of Gotham city. And not a single outside hero was allowed in. Even after the rumors started to spread, that the Batman was dead, one year ago.

 

———

 

Kon found himself flying over the billboard a few times for the past two months, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tim again. Though he still has no idea why he was there at that time or if he’d ever need to go back. But it’s not like he can just go to Gotham.

He stopped flying as soon as that thought ended. Why _hadn’t_ they gone to Gotham? After the first (failed) attempt, he hadn't heard anything more. Of course he’d been just a kid back then, he wasn't specially paying attention. But it’s not like the Bats posed an _actual_ threat, did they? They were cunning but they were humans. If Superman had _really_ wanted to talk, there’s no way they could have stopped him. So what happened?

He wondered about this more and more, and after an entire week of just wondering he got sick of it and shot out of his room straight to Metropolis.

Groups of tourists gasped as he sped by them like a gust of wind as he entered the Hall of Justice. In the back of his head he realized he'd never actually been there before and didn't know where to go from here.

He waved to an uniformed attendant, who was clearly the person guiding the tourists through the public areas of the Hall. “Sorry to bother you,” he looked at her name tag “Megan, could you tell me how I get into the actual thing? That’d help me tons.”

Megan blinked several times, trying to find her voice “I… Im not free to say…” she stammered.

“Are you Superman?!” A kid pointed at him as he stared wide eyed.

“Im Superboy, believe me if you saw Superman you wouldn't need to ask. Anyways,” he turned back to Megan “I should have clearance, I was a member of Young Justice. Come on, Megan.” He smiled his sweetest smile. “I can return the favor later.”

Megan blushed, tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear “I… I can't—“

“It's Superman!” The kid from before cheered.

“Im Superboy. Seriously, kids these days…” Kon said, before noticing Megan and, effectively, everyone else in the tourist group had gone slack jawed.

“You know it's not right to try bribe people, right?” Said the unmistakable voice of Superman from behind him. Kon turned and sure enough, the man himself stood—or rather hovered— behind him, his arms were crossed but he had an easy smile in his face. “Sorry folk, well leave you to your tour, feel free to visit the gift shop.” He glanced at Kon before flying out. Kon, getting his drift, followed after him.

They were just above the Hall when Superman turned to him, open shock in his expression. “Conner, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”

“Aren't you supposed to be at work?”

Superman rubbed the back of his neck “I was, but I was notified you were here. I got worried, so I came. Still, why are you here? Is something wrong? You could have called.”

“Nothing's wrong.” Said Kon, “Just wondering about some stuff I guess. I thought maybe I could ask around anyone in the Hall or access the computer… but since you're here...”

Superman blinked and visibly relaxed, “We can talk. Does this require…” he gestured at himself.

“I don't know. It's about…” he sighed, steeling himself. _Just like a band-aid_ , he thought. “It's about, Batman.”

Superman frowned.

 

———

 

“How rare to have you two boys around at this hour.” Said Lois from her place in the couch. She was all curled up, cocooned in a large blanket. Her voice was nasal and she had a pile of tissues all around her. “Specially since _one of you_ was supposed to cover for me today at the office.” She said, sending a pointed look at Clark.

“Sorry, I’ll do it don't worry.” he said, moving to kiss her forehead, then wincing as Lois smacked him with a wad of paper.

“Don't kiss me, I’m all gross.” She smiled devilishly “You know, you guys can make it up for me. Im craving some soup, I love your soup, it's so homey.”

That's how Kon ended up standing next to Clark as he prepared everything for the soup. He didn't know the first thing about cooking, so he was just going to do what he was told. More importantly however “Is it okay if she listens to this?”

“Hmm?” Said Clark, engrossed in washing some potatoes. “Oh. Yes, of course. I don’t hide anything from her.”

“Damn right!” Said Lois from the couch.

“If you say so.”

“Cut these for me please.”

“Why don't you just use laser vision.”

“Well, because the cuts are uneven and the taste… is quite terrible. I learned that the hard way. Pa always said, a lazy man works twice. He was never wrong.” He said, handing Kon a knife and the potatoes. After checking his progress he nodded and moved on to something else. “So, this thing about Batman…”

“I was just wondering. Did you go again? After the first time? It’s just been a long time since, and it’s become sort of… taboo, to even talk about them.”

Clark hummed. “Well, as you know, Batman had contingency plans in case any of us ever went, to put it simply, to the wrong side. This made a lot of people upset when it was found out. We asked him to destroy them, he refused and quit. Quite clear cut.”

“And then Green Arrow went and got messed up.”

“Not… quite.”

“What do you mean ‘not quite’?”

Clark sighed, washing his hands and drying them with a paper towel. “We knew Batman wasn't going to give in that easily. Specially not to Ollie, they never quite saw eye to eye. So the plan was for us three to go in, Diana and I would distract Batman while Oliver sneaked into the cave to find a way to get rid of these plans.” He ran a hand through his hair. “We figured asking for forgiveness would be more effective than ask for permission when dealing with Batman. That’s certainly _his_ way of doing things. Now cut these.” He said handing some carrots for Kon to cut, taking the potatoes from him.

“Don't tell me, it didn't quite go as planned.”

“We… didn't foresee what happened. I'm sure Batman didn't either. Though we should have.”

Kon noticed how much distress talking about it was causing Clark, but he needed to know, so he didn't stop him.

“It was going well. We were actually getting through Batman. He understood how he breached our trust, but was committed to the idea of the contingency. We did agree in that, many of us have been mind controlled many times in the past, it was him going behind our backs what upset everyone. Very ironic, in retrospect.” He sighed, placing the lid on the pot, there was nothing left to do now but wait. “That's when—“

“The shit hit the fan?”

“—things went south.” He said, in a chastising tone, to which Kon merely shrugged. “We didn't expect anyone else to be in the cave. We chose a night when his allies would be otherwise occupied. We knew the Birds of Prey were busy on the other side of town, and Nightwing was with the Titans…”

Kons heart somehow knew where this was going before his brain caught up to it, it was beating rapidly with apprehension.

“Robin was supposed to be with you guys, but we still didn't know about the temporary disbandment then. He… Robin caught Oliver trying to hack the computer. He must have contacted Batman, since he immediately ditched us. Of course, part of our plan was to stop him to give Oliver time to escape.” He held the pot with mitts, even though this much heat would not harm him and poured three bowls.

“Thank you.” Said Lois bleary eyed, as Clark handed her the soup, patting his knee as he sat next to her. Kon supposed she really did know this story.

“Careful, it's hot.” He said to Kon as he sat adjacent to them.

He hadn't realized he'd left before breakfast and was definitely starving, but somehow he couldn't make himself eat it. So instead he said “What happened next?”

“It... got messy. Robin was a very talented boy, but still he was no match to Arrow. But he had the advantage of knowing the Cave. He ran Ollie in circles while fighting him, much like we were trying to stall Batman, he was making time for him to get there. One moment they were playing cat and mouse, the next one of Ollies shock arrows caught a high tension panel inside the cave by accident. I felt the explosion all the way to where we were. Of course, to Bruce it must have felt like nothing but a small tremor. But he's smarter than that. I couldn't… I couldn't keep stalling him after that, so we let him go.” Clark wrung his hands together. “We followed closely until we got to the cave. The explosion caused a cave in, most of the place was intact but one of the inner tunnels crumbled in. Ollie was barely visible in the mouth of the tunnel, his lower half was trapped by debris.” He tried to get the next words out but couldn't find the words.

Lois, who'd been resting her head in his shoulder looked up to him. “I can go on if you can't.”

“No, no. I…” Clark couldn't look at Kon now, and Kon couldn't look anywhere but Clark, “Ollie was barely hanging to consciousness, he said,” he cleared his voice “‘The kid pushed me out, he's still inside.’ I'd never seen Batman more broken up, except, I guess I had. He was digging with his bare hands, lifting the rocks out of the tunnel. I tried to stop him, to help him, but he said… he said to me…” he paused, “Anyways, Robin, he was okay. He was fine. He came out of a different tunnel, probably after the cave in he circled back another way, he was hurt but he was alive.” Clark finally looked up at Kon “I'm telling you all this now because I know Robin was your friend and I owe you that much. Batman, he lost a Robin before, in similar circumstances. We made him relive this, not only that but we broke his trust, the very thing we were upset about in the first place. It was an accident, but we proved him right that day. That's when he told us Gotham was out of limits. We understood what we’d done very well. We figured if we were to talk again it'd be on his terms, so we never approached them first.” He finished.

Kon swallowed. It was a lot to take in, but it explained a lot of things. Why Nightwing, who was often a bridge between the League and the Bats had left the Titans without second thought. It explained the radio silence until now. It didn't explain something though. “You lied to us… you lied to us!” He said, rising to his feet.

Clark held out a hand to appease him “What do you mean?”

“You made it seem like they were wrong! All this time, we all thought the Bats finally went and crossed a line. But it was you!”

“That, wasn't our intent. We didn't explain what happened since we didn't know much, Ollie was still…”

“And what's your excuse _after_?”

“It was between us and Batman. We wanted to solve this between us. We thought given time we'd be able to work it out, we did what Batman wanted and relayed his message, as a sign of trust. We didn't expect it to last this long. And then, Batman died and we were unable to—“

“He's not dead!” Kon blurted out, pacing around the living room. “God, he’s all alone looking for him with no one to trust, after all this. Thats fucked up!”

Lois and Clark exchanged a glance and Lois sniffed before asking “Whos he? Batman? Whos he looking for?”

“Batman is dead, it was covered in the news. I've checked, the current Batman is Nightwing.”

“No, not Batman!” He said, frustrated. “I mean yes, Batman _is_ alive. But he's not—It's Tim!” He said finally, wondering if he should have kept it to himself right after he said it. But he was convinced now to take his side, if they tried to hurt him, hed protect him.

“Tim? Do you know any Tim?” Asked Lois.

“Robin! Or, or Red Robin now, I don't know why he's not Robin anymore.” Kon looked out the window. “I have to find him.”

Before he could fly away, Clark shot up and held his wrist “Conner, wait!”

Kon didn’t turn when he said “Are you going to get in my way, too?” He knew he shouldn't have enjoyed the way Clark let go of him as if he'd been burned, but he didnt care. He had somewhere to go.

 

———

 

He'd been flying in circles all day and it was almost nearing night with no sight of a single Bat. He didn't know where the cave was and had nothing to go on. Gotham was a smaller city than Metropolis, but not by much, plus it had all sorts of nooks and crannies.

A paranoid part of his brain thought maybe they were watching him, it was possible, Robin used to do it all the time. But he couldn’t understand, he was breaking the lockdown rule, in fact he was being very upfront about it. He even went far enough to stop a few robberies and make sure he was mentioned in the police scanner. Still, nothing. He was starting to get worried.

He decided to fly towards the center of the city. He wanted to try something out. He'd gotten a lot of practice doing this with his friends, he could tell where Cassie and Bart were, based on their heartbeats, if he concentrated a little. Problem was, he hadn't seen Tim in a long time, and anyways, when they were back in Young Justice he didn't make it a habit to learn his teammates heartbeat signatures. It was a long shot, but he needed _something_.

Slowly every sound and sensation faded away, leaving only vibrations, coursing through his skin. Sometimes he could hear people asking for help, multiple police sirens. He felt terrible even as he dismissed them and they faded away with the rest of the noise. Eventually he found something. A sound he hadn't heard since that night in the tent, except it was slightly wrong. But he was certain he had found him.

Without wasting another second he shot towards the sound. He was almost there when the sound of glass shattering caught his attention and a figure was rapidly falling down towards the street. He had no time to think, he quickly adjusted his speed to meet theirs and caught them easily in his arms.

It was Tim.

His cowl was tattered and he was bleeding everywhere, but it was him. One of his eyes was barely open. His body was limp in Kons grasp and he swung his head languidly to look at him. “I knew you'd come.” He managed, before losing consciousness.

Kon was now floating in place, unable to move at the sight of Tim, at his words, _How? How did you know?_ Which was when something flew past his eyes, startled, he looked and noticed a familiar batarang embedded to a far wall. He turned to the other side and saw him. Batman.

Kon approached him, still rattled by everything that had just happened. “Are you crazy?” He said, once he was close enough “What if I had dropped him?!”

“I wasn't aiming at you.” Said Batman. “What are you doing here… is what I would ask if you hadn't just saved Red Robin.” He quickly added, and now Kon could see part of Nightwing peek out from under the cowl. He seemed tired.

Batman put a hand to his ear and answered his communicator “Yes, he's alright. Im bringing him back for check up.” Then, he turned to look at Kon, who was still holding Tim close to his chest. “Can you keep up? He needs to get to the cave.”

“Of course.” Kon stammered.

“Follow me. Try not jostling him up too much.”

 

———

 

Kon watched as the bats fussed over Tim as he slowly regained his consciousness. He'd been sitting in the stairs for almost 6 hours, waiting. He'd been surprised they didn't mind his presence much, a butler had even come and offered him refreshments, which he gladly accepted.

For the most part they hadn't asked him questions, mostly due to Batman mentioning he'd been there to save one of their own. They were more tightly knitted than he remembered, he supposed isolation would do that to a family.

He had noticed the small kid wearing Robin duds. He supposed that explained the change of monicker, but not by much. The kid seemed almost as separate from the group as Kon himself, though his eyes only seemed to go from Tim to Dick then back.

“Superboy is here?” He heard Tim say in a creaky voice that made him stand up. The other bats turned to look at him, until Batman said “We’ll give you some time.”

As they dispersed, Kon approached the bed where Tim was slowly sitting up. He winced as he moved a bit too quickly and Kon instinctively held out his hands. Tim motioned him to stop and smiled before getting comfortable again.

“This is a long way from Hawaii, what are you doing all the way here?”

“Ah, actually I live in Kansas now.” He said, faintly thinking about how worried Ma should be, he hoped Clark had called her in his stead. “I thought you said you knew I would come.” Kon said, confused at the question.

“Kansas? I guess you could wear a leather jacket in Kansas.” Tim chuckled then breathed deeply, as if a great weight had lifted from his shoulders. He looked at Kon with sparkling eyes “Its like youre my lucky charm.”

“What do you mean?” Kon said, not quite following.

“I found proof. I can bring him back. After we met, I knew I had everything I needed.” He grinned “And now I hear you saved me. So far your track record is on the green.”

“It's not though.” Kon said and now it was Tim's turn to tilt his head in confusion.”I wasn't there for you in the past, I probably made things worse, If we hadn't fought that day…” he clenched his hands on the cot covers

“Oh, that silly argument we had when we were kids?” Tim placed his hand over Kons, brushing his fingers until his fists relaxed. “Come on, now.”

“If I hadn't pushed you, you wouldn't have quit. You wouldn't have been there that day.” Kon mumbled, then looked into Tims eyes “You could have died, and it would have been my fault—Ow! What the hell!” He said, rubbing the sore spot in his shoulder where Tim had punched him.

“You're going to say that too? Enough people are beating themselves up for an accident, and yes that's what it was, an accident. If anyone's at fault it's me. Dont! Dont say its not.” Tim looked down at his legs “The fallout was bigger than any of us should have ever let it be. But i've been working hard to set things right. And i'm really close now.” He held Kons hand tightly in his and said “I'm not going to let Batman get lost in this, he needs the League, I've always thought so. And he needs someone to make him see this, like you made me see it. I'll bring him back, and he’ll realize his mistake.”

There it was, the unbreakable resolve Kon remembered from all those years ago, the fire in his eyes that would never go out. It hadn’t changed. He squeezed his hand and blurted out “God, I love you.”

Tim blinked at Kon, as if it wasn't what he'd been expecting to hear; Kon was on the same boat, it wasn't what he'd been expecting to say either. “Oh. I don’t… I’m sorry, I don't know what to say…” he said, wide eyed.

Kon was flustered with his own stupidity, his cheeks flushing hot red, he quickly averted his eyes “No, sorry. I sprung that on you. I didn’t mean to say it.”

“There's just so much going on with me right now…” Tim said apologetically in a small voice, he was hunching slightly to try catch Kons eyes.

“No, you don't have to explain.” Kons eyes landed on their linked hands and let go, missing the warmth of Tims hands now that it was gone. “God, whats wrong with me.”

“I’m, Kon look at me,” once Kon had mustered the strength to look he continued “I'm messed up, Kon. You have no idea, the amount of things that are wrong with _me_. I'm not the same I used to be.” Kon did his best not to interrupt and refute it, it was fact that he didn't know who Tim was now, except that the Tim he used to know was still there. “But, Im glad youre here. Stay, if you want. I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> ok i have a lot to say so im just gonna say it, read this or dont its fine  
> Ive always been interested in aus where Gotham is blocked off from the league, but i really wanted to give Batman a more “logical” reason than just “Metahumans mess shit up” as well as give the league more reason not to mess with the bats other than “this random guy says hes got it so well just take his word for it”. That always seemed to me like he was holding Gotham hostage which 1. Batman is edging that line but is not his intent 2. The league would never stand for that. So basically this fic is a tiny exploration of that.
> 
> I found that Batmans contingency plans were a pretty good catalyst to explore this. However though this actually affected the entire family, i only know the effect it had on the young justice team. So, even though its an au i wanted to keep it still kinda canon compliant. Why not make it timkon? I thought, which was a great thought. Since Kon was dead for uhhh two years hed be a good character to use to investigate this world, but with a focus on what i know was my thought.
> 
> Also i always wanted to explore an au where Kon was bi. Cuz i always liked to think if he trully had been intended to be, hed have been a little bit attracted to guys the same way he was shown to be attracted to girls. So theres a little bit of that too.


End file.
